Ted Wells Fires Back at Brady's Agent: 'Wrong To Criticize My Independence'
A day after Tom Brady's agent, Don Yee, called Ted Wells' report concerning Tom Brady and Deflategate "an incredibly frail exercise in fact-finding and logic,' Wells fired back with a statement issued today, via ESPN's Adam Schefter.
"I would like to start out by responding to criticisms by Mr. Brady's agent, Don Yee, about my independence, and his suggestions that the conclusions of the report were somehow influenced by persons in the league office who wanted to find wrongdoing by the Patriots and Mr. Brady.
"The conclusions in the report represent the independent opinions of me personally and my team. And those conclusions were not influenced in any way shape or form by anyone at the league office. We made a fair and reasonable review of the evidence, and we reached conclusions based on the preponderance of the evidence standard, which I was required to apply based on the league's rules. To the extent Mr. Yee is suggesting that I have some type of conflict because I and my law firm do other work for the NFL, I want to be clear that it is well known that I worked for the NFL in the Miami Dolphins investigation involving Jonathan Martin and Richie Incognito. And also that my law firm is involved in representing the NFL in the concussion cases. Those facts were all publicly known at the time I was appointed. When I was appointed to be the independent investigator, no one at the Patriots, or in Mr. Brady's camp, raised ANY issues about my independence or my integrity to judge the evidence impartially and fairly. In fact, Mr. Kraft, to my recollection, publicly said he welcomed my appointment. I think it is wrong to criticize my independence just because you disagree with my findings."
Yee's response to the NFL's four-game suspension of Brady is below.
